Update: THR reports that the director has bowed out of the project. See the original story below.

While general audiences have yet to see a glimpse of footage for Darren Aronofsky‘s biggest project yet, his Biblical epic Noah, trailer previews in recent Christian conferences have gone over well and we even recently received our first hint at what music may accompany the debut trailer. As The Fountain director toils away in the editing room ahead of a spring release for that film, we’ve now got word on what he may tackle next.

According to Deadline, he’s linked up with 20th Century Fox to adapt Jason Matthews‘ spy novel Red Sparrow, which just hit shelves in June. The plot brings us to a present-day Russia where officer Dominika Egorova is assigned to become a “Sparrow,” a professional seductress who must track CIA agent Nathaniel Nash. The globe-trotting project finds them in a web of deception and passion. It sounds like new territory for Aronofsky and if Noah is a success, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing a straight-up international thriller like this one from him. At the very least, Red Sparrow should make a good counterpart to Black Swan in title only.

Check out the official synopsis of the book below and pick it up over at Amazon.

In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking President Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer Dominika Egorova struggles to survive in the post-Soviet intelligence jungle. Ordered against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a young CIA officer who handles the Agency’s most important Russian mole.

As the action careens between Russia, Finland, Greece, Italy, and the United States, Dominika and Nate soon collide in a duel of wills, tradecraft, and—inevitably—forbidden passion that threatens not just their lives but those of others as well. As secret allegiances are made and broken, Dominika and Nate’s game reaches a deadly crossroads. Soon one of them begins a dangerous double existence in a life-and-death operation that consumes intelligence agencies from Moscow to Washington, DC.

Page by page, veteran CIA officer Jason Matthews’s Red Sparrow delights, terrifies and fascinates, all while delivering an unforgettable cast, from a sadistic Spetsnaz “mechanic” who carries out Putin’s murderous schemes to the weary CIA Station Chief who resists Washington “cake-eaters”. Packed with insider detail, this novel brims with Matthews’s life experience of espionage, counterintelligence, spy recruitment, and cyber-warfare. Brilliantly composed, Red Sparrow is a masterful spy tale. Authentic, tense, and entertaining, this novel introduces Jason Matthews as a major new American talent.

Would you like to see Aronofsky take on this project?

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